


Odds Are

by Raine_Wynd



Series: Author's Favorites [21]
Category: Leverage, Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Background Relationships, Chuck Lives, Corruption, Crossover, Gen, News, Post-Movie(s), Post-Series, warning for use of foul language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-24 17:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4927777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raine_Wynd/pseuds/Raine_Wynd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the wake of the Breach closure, Herc thought the worst was over, but someone on the UN Council has other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Thief and the Marshal

**Author's Note:**

> I swear, the oddest things pop into my brain while I'm listening to other things. This is brought to you by listening to the _Hamilton: A Musical_ soundtrack. Title courtesy of Barenaked Ladies.
> 
> Comments, constructive criticism, kudos, and discussion welcome.
> 
> Oh, and Scott? Scott's not a bad guy in this 'verse.
> 
> If you're not familiar with Pacific Rim, basically it's about giant robots piloted by two people in a mind-to-mind connection who fought a war against alien monsters called kaiju.
> 
> If you're not familiar with Leverage, basically it's modern-day Robin Hoods who target the greedy and the corrupt.

The willowy blonde didn’t look like anyone Herc knew. She was dressed in black, with black gloves, and had black sneakers on. Something about the way she was dressed made Herc’s suspicions rise instantly. No one should’ve been in the now-empty jaeger bays anyway – no one but the ghosts and maybe Raleigh, who’d taken to hanging out here at odd hours.

“You’re not authorized to be here,” Herc said sternly. Something made him add, “And there’s nothing worth stealing, either.”

The woman turned to him and lifted her chin defiantly. “I wanted to see for myself.”

Herc eyed her. “See what?”

“Oblivion Bay echoes with ghosts. I wanted to see if it was like that here too.” She cocked her head and studied him as he did the same. He wondered what she was seeing; he’d been more concerned about just getting dressed to care what his uniform looked like. “You hear them but you don’t want to.” 

Herc drew in a breath and let it out slowly. The Drift left its echoes everywhere; the jaeger pilots and crews long whispered that it made the jaegers alive in ways that were supernatural. This strange woman felt connected, as if she could hear and see things others discarded as ridiculous. “Why do you care?”

“I’ve heard them sing,” she said simply. “There are people who want the machines to sing like that again, but the tune they want sung is full of pain.”

Herc stared at her, suddenly, abruptly certain she was both uncannily present and out of place. She wasn’t a ‘lost’ journalist; that much, Herc was certain, based on his previous experiences with such. That left the question of who she was and what she knew. He stalled with, “Who?”

She shook her head, smiling slightly. “I think you know. I’m just here to see if you care that they’ll take this tech and twist it.”

“I can’t control everything that happens,” Herc warned her, aware of the political machinations swirling around the question of what to do now the Breach was closed. “And all I care now is making sure my son and my friends have the room to heal, and that we’re not caught with our asses flapping in the wind if the kaiju come back. Who are you?”

“Parker,” she introduced herself. “And I can help.” She held up a hand. “No, I’m not telling you exactly how.” She closed the distance between them. “But I suggest you get out of Hong Kong before the government pressures you into staying ‘for your continued health.’”

Herc’s eyes widened. “How do you know about that? Never mind, where do you think we should go?”

Parker smiled. “Somewhere the chess masters can’t use you as pawns in their new game of power. You have friends still in Sydney – your brother, for one.”

Herc studied her. Not many knew that Scott was still alive; Herc had worked hard to make sure his brother had that peace. Scott should've never been in a conn-pod; he wasn't a killer, not even of kaiju. That meant Parker had connections and uncommon knowledge, but to what end? “And I’m not on the board in your game?”

She half-smiled. “You have four hours before the Chinese representative comes to talk to you. A plane is being readied now to take you and the senior team, but it won’t be fully fueled until three hours from now. Eliot will get you, or if you're ready sooner, call this number.” She passed over a business card and turned to leave.

“And if I said no?” Herc hazarded. “My son is still in ICU.”

“Only because the doctor is under orders to keep your son sedated. There’s no reason to keep a man with a broken leg and a repaired humerus in ICU otherwise.” She let that sink in. 

Herc growled. He’d believed the damn doctor, but he’d instinctively been arguing anyway, convinced something wasn’t right. “And what happens if none of us leave?”

“You’ll be arrested for conducting war operations,” Parker said without hesitation. “With a side of conspiring as a foreign national to conduct suspicious and illegal activities, possibly even terroristic acts.”

Shocked, Herc looked at her. “But we saved the world,” he growled, furious as the implications swirled through his brain. “We had nowhere else to go after the UN shut us down. Hong Kong was the only place where the government welcomed us. If we hadn’t, the kaiju would have overrun us.”

Parker nodded. “But you were supposed to die canceling the apocalypse,” she said. “Your son wasn’t supposed to survive. No one was expected to survive that bomb. If you lived, you were supposed to be so consumed by grief that you…” She ended her sentence with a hand slice across her wrist. 

_Fuck._ It was too easy to imagine how he could have chosen that route, given how deep his Drift connection with Chuck ran, and the sense that he might have been manipulated into doing so made Herc’s soul shiver. “Who the fuck wanted us dead?” 

“The men in power,” Parker said with a slight shrug, “the ones who profit from war and death, and who will find every excuse to ensure you fall from the lofty position you now hold. The ones who said you were unfit to lead or that you were a bad father or both. Take your pick.”

“The UN Council, who are now embarrassed,” Herc surmised, and Parker clapped, pleased as any parent who watched a child accomplish a small task. “You’re going after them?”

Parker smiled. “Not directly. But moving you and the other jaeger pilots removes one of their pillars of power.” She shrugged slightly. “And if I say so myself, it would be nice to see them squirm if you were to own the patents, the processes, the copyright, and all the money from this little enterprise they thought was theirs. You alive and well means they can’t, and they’ll dazzle the scientists into staying if you linger too long. You in?”

“How do I know this isn’t part of their plan?”

Parker rolled her eyes. “Because they were idiot enough to ask me and my friends first, and then screw us on the payment. I hate people who do that to me.”

Herc wasn’t sure why, but he trusted her in that moment. “How do you suggest I get my son out of Medical?”

Parker smiled. “Hardison’s working on it. Your son will be on the plane,” she said confidently. “You just need to get the scientists, Mr. Choi, Miss Mori, and Mr. Becket on the flight deck in –” she glanced at her watch “two hours, forty-five minutes. If anyone asks you where you’re headed, tell them that you’re taking a scenic tour to see the ocean now that it’s not full of kaiju.”

“Who’s paying you?” Herc wondered.

Parker’s smile widened. “We have an alternative revenue stream. Don’t worry about it, Marshal.” She turned and walked away. 

Herc knew protocol meant he should be calling Security, but he didn’t think that would help matters. Herc reached for his phone, but then reconsidered. If the Chinese government was scheming to make sure the PPDC stayed put so it could take over what they had, personnel and all, then it would mean that the cell phones would likely be bugged. Hell, maybe the whole UN Council was behind this bullshit.

Herc sighed. Stacker had been right, damn it, and it was no solace at all to think his old friend had the foresight to see this turn of events as a possibility.


	2. Leaving the Shatterdome

Convincing Hermann and Newt to leave the lab took longer than Herc liked. “But we have more specimens coming –” Newt protested.

“Illegally obtained,” Herc reminded him. “If you want to risk your life by staying put, be my guest, but I don’t know if I can help you later.”

Newt started to protest further, only to be silenced by Hermann’s grip on his arm. “We’ve been hearing rumors for days that the UN Council doesn’t appreciate what we did, and that some of the Chinese are upset that Crimson Typhoon was not one of the final jaegers for reasons that are illogical to me,” he told Herc. “I usually don’t pay them much attention – people like to talk – but I know from experience where there is rumor, some truth may exist. Gratitude only goes so far before nationalism kicks in. The probability of action against us only grows as time passes. None of us are Chinese nationals. We’ll take only what we can carry, Marshal.”

Herc smiled at the German scientist gratefully. “You have an hour. If anyone asks you where you’re going –”

“We’ll tell them that we’re taking the rock star scenic tour,” Newt finished, grinning. “Or, or something like that. I’ll think of something, I swear.”

“Or say nothing,” Herc suggested, and then waited to make sure they left the lab, where they’d apparently been sleeping rather than in the quarters they’d been issued. Herc wasn’t surprised; neither of them had Drifted before Newt’s crazy but ultimately useful stunt, and Newt was still obsessed with kaiju. Despite their inability to agree on scientific approaches, Herc understood that the two scientists had come to a kind of peace, no doubt brought on by their Drift with a kaiju, which had helped with closing the Breach.

Parker materialized out of nowhere and led the scientists away, shouldering Hermann’s bag over his protests that he didn’t need her help.

“You need your hand free for your cane,” Parker pointed out. “And to keep him –” she pointed at Newt – “silent. You. Carry the other bags. I need a hand free and no talking. I will stab you if you talk.” Parker glared at Newt, and Herc was convinced she would carry out that threat.

Newt looked at her and then at Herc. “This is the kind of help you hired?” Newt asked incredulously.

“I didn’t hire her,” Herc replied. “Parker, please no stabbing.”

Parker shot him a look, as if disappointed by the reminder, then frowned, as if listening to some in-ear communication device. “Fine, no stabbing,” she said aloud.

Newt snapped his mouth shut at that and did as he was ordered.

With the same abruptness as she’d entered, Parker left, leading the scientists away.

Trying to find Mako and Raleigh took Herc another twenty precious minutes. They were not in any of their usual locations, and Herc gave up in favor of heading to his quarters to quickly pack what little he and Chuck had. Max was strangely absent as well, and Herc risked texting Mako to ask where the bulldog was. Herc was grateful that the last six weeks had been spent letting go of the majority of the staff who had made Operation Pitfall happen; he hadn't seen the point in retaining everyone, so they were down to a skeleton crew. Still, that meant there were still enough people around, most of them locals, that Herc wasn’t sure whom he could trust.

 _With us_ , came the reassuring text. _Follow Eliot._

“Who’s Eliot?” Herc wondered aloud, only to be startled by the sound of the door of his quarters opening.

“Me,” came a male voice. Herc turned to see a broad-shouldered man with long dark brown hair and a commanding presence step into the room. Herc recognized the type – ex-soldier, possibly mercenary, possibly a dozen other things – and instinctively braced himself. “We need to go now.”

Something about his tone and his posture made Herc believe him. Herc passed Eliot Chuck’s two duffels, which he accepted with a mild grunt at the weight. Once they were both fully loaded, Eliot led the way down a back hallway to the service corridor used by the housekeeping staff – a path that was supposed to be highly secured, but it was only monitored at the access doors, not through the entire corridor. It didn’t escape Herc’s notice that Eliot had a badge that defeated that security measure.

It seemed to take forever to get to the flight deck. Half-hidden by the rows of jumphawks sat an older model long-range combination cargo and passenger aircraft, the kind that had often served as spotters during the Kaiju War. Herc was the last to board, followed by Eliot.

Chuck, Herc saw, was in a stretcher that had been strapped in place towards the rear of the aircraft. It looked as though Chuck had been spirited out of the medical ward with his IV lines and catheter intact. Near the stretcher was Max in a dog carrier, also strapped in place, in front of all of their baggage. Herc passed his bags to Eliot, who dumped their load behind the retaining net before re-securing it.

“Go find a seat,” Eliot told him. “We’re taking off in a few minutes.”

Hermann and Newt were seated in the back of the passenger seating area, looking subdued and worried. Raleigh and Mako were in the row ahead of them, talking with Parker; they were discussing – of all things – French toast. A lanky black man was on a laptop in the open row. At Herc’s approach, the man looked up.

“Welcome aboard Leverage Airlines, Marshal,” he said. “I’m Hardison. Don’t worry, this is a real military plane, just a little dusty, and it will get you to Sydney.”

“Who’s flying this?”

Hardison smiled as the intercom crackled open.

“This is Luke Meredith, your captain for this crazy adventure,” a brisk New Zealander’s voice spoke, and Herc’s eyes widened. The only Luke Meredith he knew was a billionaire who’d specialized in breaking records for piloting all sorts of aircraft. “Your copilot today is Amelia Fan.”

“You’re shitting me,” Herc said. Amelia Fan was well known as one of the groundbreaking and best female combat aviators in the US Navy; she’d been crucial for helping to defend the Los Angeles Shatterdome during a kaiju attack.

“Only the best for the heroes of the world,” Hardison said easily as Eliot returned from the cockpit. “Besides, they wanted to pay us back.”

“I can’t imagine what you could’ve possibly done to warrant that,” Herc remarked.

Eliot cut off Hardison’s reply by saying, “They want you in the cockpit. We need to clear Chinese airspace.”

“Right.” Hardison rose easily, taking the laptop with him.

“What can he do?” Herc asked.

Eliot smiled. “According to the radar, all we are is a old kaiju spotter plane, newly refurbished to take tourists over the battle zone. Hardison’s Cantonese is also better than mine, and he does a better British accent.”

Herc whistled softly. “So by the time we get out into international airspace, we’re going to be out of range from any air traffic controllers, and the Chinese won’t think twice about a civilian aircraft taking advantage of the recent battle to do tours. You have this planned out.”

“Much as we can,” Eliot agreed as he buckled himself into the seat to Herc’s left. From the sound of the engines, they were getting ready to take off.

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

“For what it’s worth, Marshal, neither can we. By the time we land, we’ll have the Australian government on your side.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because this is what we do,” Eliot said, “and if we aren’t sure, people die. I’m not a fan of dying.” He softened his words with a smile. “Your son has been drugged to maintain a coma state; he’ll need medical attention, but it can wait until tomorrow unless he wakes sooner. I’ll be monitoring him throughout the flight.” Eliot raised his voice. “People: we assume you’ve heard the standard flight safety briefing before. Restrooms are in the back of the plane. If you get hungry or want something to drink, please let Parker or me know. We’ll be in Sydney in about eight hours. If we need to evacuate the plane before we land, we’re fucked, so we’re going to avoid doing that. Any questions?”

“Any reason why we couldn’t go commercial?” Newt piped up.

“Because we couldn’t guarantee you wouldn’t be stopped,” Parker told him. “And especially since you’ve been photographed on the scene of a kaiju, conducting an unauthorized experiment.”

“I had authorization!” Newt said indignantly.

“From Stacker,” Herc called back. He was beginning to see the madness at play - nothing they’d done as the PPDC had been officially authorized, so unless they’d agreed to the lie offered by the UN that they’d been acting under secret orders, nothing could be covered. Herc wasn’t about to lie about anything, not when the UN had hung the world to dry. “They want us to pretend we didn’t hear them loudly and clearly proclaiming that the Wall would hold, or that the Shatterdomes were useless drains on the world economy.”

“But the Chinese –” Raleigh started to counter, then stopped, scoffing at the line of thought. “Would only be interested in saving their faces. Arresting us would put us as no better than the kaiju parts dealers.” He leaned forward. “Getting us to Sydney gets us out of Hong Kong, but I don’t know how safe us non-Aussies will be.”

Herc looked worriedly at Eliot, but the answer came from Parker. “We’re prepared for you all to go into hiding for a few days while the Chinese frantically pretend to search for you, as they originally intended. We thought you might enjoy surprising them by showing up safe and sound, Marshal.”

“We also thought you might want a few days to make sure Chuck is well and that you have a solid plan to move forward from here,” Eliot added. “That’s where Luke and Amelia come in; they have the funds and resources to help you.”

“I appreciate that,” Herc said. “Does that mean that you can’t?”

Eliot shook his head. “Not for the fight you’re going to have once the UN Council is exposed, but we’ll be around for this first week. There’s a limit to what we can do without exposing ourselves.”

Herc accepted the qualifier and felt more reassured by it. He’d have been more alarmed if Eliot had tried to make him feel like he had complete control.


	3. Back in Sydney

The flight was largely uneventful, though Chuck was starting to come out of the drug haze he’d been under. Herc tried not worry too much; Eliot seemed to have the situation under control, and Chuck never liked being fussed over that much when he was sick.

It was night by the time they landed, too dark to see, but by the lack of lighting, Herc surmised they were at a private airport. After landing, Luke and Amelia addressed the group as Eliot worked to remove Chuck from the stretcher and from the IV and catheter lines.

“It was our pleasure doing this,” Luke said. “Marshal Hansen, we’ll be in touch. Officially, neither of us is here.”

“Understood,” Herc answered for the group. “Thank you.” 

Luke and Amelia didn’t disembark the plane, and Herc suspected it wouldn’t stay on the ground for long. He was proven right when he heard it taxi off as they started to load the two vehicles – an black SUV and a beige sedan – that waited nearby. Eliot loaded Chuck into the SUV, ignoring the way he was muttering incoherently, and then turned to address the group.

“Parker and Hardison will be taking Dr. Gottleib and Dr. Geiszler and Mr. Choi in the sedan,” Eliot announced. “The rest of you are with me. Marshal, if you want to sit beside your son, be advised that he may become combative given the drug he was on.”

Herc growled unhappily but said nothing, aware the words he wanted to use would only underscore his displeasure. 

“Where are we going?” Tendo asked.

“Not far,” Eliot said evasively. “Let’s go; clock’s ticking.”

Raleigh waited until they were all on the road before asking, “You sounded like you’re on a timetable.”

“Because we are,” Eliot replied. “Everything we’ve been doing to make sure you’re out of Hong Kong has been timed.”

Herc looked back, realizing abruptly where they were as the lights on the airfield turned back on. “We just landed on a military base. You must’ve cut the power to the airfield lights, jammed the tower, and I don’t know what else you did to get that plane on the ground without every base MP running to blow us out of the sky or arrest us. How the hell are we getting past the main gate?”

Eliot flashed him a grin in the rearview mirror. “Leave it to me.”

Much to Herc’s surprise, the gate guard waved them on without much ceremony.

“The hell? I thought security was better than this,” Herc muttered.

“We spent a few days driving these vehicles on and off the base, leaving the same time every night and coming back early in the morning,” Eliot admitted. “Made sure we had all the appropriate stickers and everything.”

Raleigh whistled softly. “So the guards don’t think twice about your passing by. But you’re not coming back tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Eliot told him, his tone final. 

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to a large, modern style home. Eliot and Parker drove both vehicles into the garage, fitting them into the space with ease. Parker, who had parked on the side closest to the entry into house, led her group inside first. Raleigh helped Herc with Chuck while Mako took possession of Max in his carrier.

“Go ahead and take a look around,” Eliot invited. “This is the biggest house we could find to fit everyone, so you’ll have to share the beds unless someone wants to sleep on the couch in the den. Also, we have two air mattresses if you aren’t the bed sharing type. There are five bedrooms and three bathrooms. One of the bathrooms is a Jack-and-Jill bath and shared between two bedrooms, so be warned. Sorry, but my team’s taken dibs on the master, the one in the back. All of the bathrooms are stocked with linens and toiletries. There’s food and water in the kitchen for Max. Dr. Gottleib, may I suggest you take the bedroom, second door to the left; it’s the one with the handicapped accessible bathroom. It’s also the only room with separate beds. We figured you and Dr. Geizler would appreciate that.”

“Thank you,” Hermann said gratefully. 

Eliot finished his monologue with, “Dinner in about half an hour. Speak up now if you have any food allergies. Marshal Hansen, if you want to walk Max, please stay in the backyard for tonight. Fence is high enough back there that nobody will see you.”

It took some negotiation, but eventually, all of the bags were unloaded from both vehicles and the rooms chosen. Herc opted for one of the bedrooms that had the Jack-and-Jill bath, figuring Mako and Raleigh would have the courtesy to knock. Chuck was still groggy and mostly out of it, so Herc – with Eliot’s help – got him situated in bed. 

Herc spent a few minutes tending to Max, who clearly appreciated having the chance to go to the bathroom. Coming back in, he saw that Mako and Raleigh had both showered and changed, and were seated at the table in the eat-in kitchen. Someone had thoughtfully poured dog kibble and water in two bowls in the corner of the room, out of traffic flow.

“Where’s the rest of the gang?” Herc asked as he led Max over to the bowls to check them out.

“Tendo’s asleep, and Newt and Dr. Gottleib are arguing about nothing important,” Raleigh reported. “Mako suggested they just use different bathrooms and go to sleep. They looked at her like she’d suggested the newest idea.”

“Neither of them travel well,” Herc noted. “Parker and Hardison?”

Mako shook her head. “I didn’t ask, but they look exhausted,” she noted. “Eliot’s more tired than he’s letting on.”

“Been up for several hours,” Eliot said, startling Mako. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to skip the elaborate dinner and put in a pizza. It doesn’t look like many of you are interested in eating right now.”

“Not really,” Raleigh answered. “Pizza’s fine.”

“If you get hungry later, the fridge and pantry are stocked. Just don’t ruin my knives or my pans and we’ll get along just fine.”

“I don’t know how to cook,” Mako admitted. “I can make tea but that’s it.”

Eliot turned on the oven to preheat. “What about you, Mr. Becket?”

“Call me Raleigh,” Raleigh answered. “‘Mr. Becket’ makes me think you’re some jerk reporter.”

Eliot grinned at that.

“But yes, I know how to cook. Haven’t really wanted to the last few years, other than what I had to if I couldn’t get rations.”

Eliot nodded in understanding.

“How did you manage to get this so stocked?” Herc wondered. “You couldn’t have had more than a few weeks’ time to put this all together, and last I knew, Sydney was still under rationing.”

Eliot smiled. “Let’s just say I know a guy or three.” He pulled out the rectangular pizza from the freezer, revealing it wasn’t some name brand, but something that looked handmade.

By the time it came out of the oven, it smelled amazing. Chuck staggered into the kitchen, looking – and broadcasting through their ghost Drift – confused. He was thankfully dressed in fresh clothes and looked as though he’d taken the time to shower. 

“Where the fuck am I?”

“In The Ponds, a suburb of –”

“Sydney, on the western edge of the city,” Chuck growled. “Fancy neighborhood to be kidnapped to. What the fuck happened to me?”

“Have a seat,” Herc said hastily. “You survived Operation Pitfall, but your escape pod got tossed around so you broke your left elbow and fractured your left leg. That’s why you have casts on both. They’ve been trying to tell me that you’ve been in a coma for the last six weeks.”

Chuck absorbed this a moment before turning to Raleigh and Mako. “Did you close the Breach?”

Raleigh nodded. “Yes.”

Slowly, Chuck lowered himself into the open chair on Raleigh’s right. “Good.” He looked as though he was going to say more, then realized that Eliot was no one he knew. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Eliot Spencer.”

“This your house?”

“Would it make a difference if I said no?” Eliot asked.

Chuck barked a laugh. “No, but that still doesn’t explain why we’re not in Hong Kong.”

“Give yourself another twelve hours to process what’s left of the drugs in your system and then we’ll discuss what’s happened,” Eliot bargained. “Right now, your body needs fuel more than your brain needs to dissect how you got here. You need water and food; that’ll help take the edge of that headache and maybe keep you from throwing up stomach acid, which is never pleasant.”

Herc was surprised when his son yielded to that logic. “Fine.” He looked to Herc. “Is this a very friendly kidnapping or we on a trip?”

“You can’t kidnap the willing,” Eliot felt compelled to point out. “And if you keep poking at this puzzle, you’ll give yourself an even worse headache.” He put a glass of water in front of Chuck. “Better drink some water and save your throat for yelling at other people later.”

Raleigh didn’t quite manage to disguise the laugh that comment produced. “Think he’s got your number, Chuck.”

“When my head’s not swimming with fuzz, I’m going to make you pay for that,” Chuck vowed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Next update will be sometime Friday evening Pacific Time.~~
> 
> Feedback always welcome! :-)


	4. Dinner

The pizza was topped with ground beef, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, and a heavy coating of cheese, baked on a rectangular pan to accommodate a larger crowd. The crust was thick enough to support the weight of the ingredients, but not so thick it was too bready. It smelled heavenly, reminding Herc of the time before the Kaiju War, when Angela had tried to maximize his salary by obsessively cooking everything she could, even pizza. From the look on Chuck’s face, Herc knew he was reminded of that as well.

“Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pizza like this,” Raleigh marveled as Eliot served it, passing plates out and silently asking how many slices people wanted. Raleigh took a bite. “Or eaten it. You make this, Eliot?”

Eliot nodded. “That’s why I asked about allergies.”

Chuck took one slice and tried to ask for more. “You gonna throw it up if you get more than one,” Eliot warned him.

“Mate, I’ve been in a jaeger –”

“Which is why I’m letting you have one,” Eliot said, his voice final. “You get sick, you clean it up, and you look like the kind to get sick doing that.”

Herc’s eyes widened. _How the hell could Eliot know that about Chuck?_

“Nah, figured I’d get the old man to do it,” Chuck drawled, jerking a thumb at his father.

“One slice,” Herc said firmly, certain that if he let this go, Chuck would keep on pushing. “Since you’re not aware, we’re sharing the bed tonight and my luck, you’ll be sick on me.” 

Chuck glared at him, but it was a measure of the headache and general illness he was feeling that he didn’t push. Herc breathed a sigh of relief; Eliot struck him as someone who’d very decisively demonstrate why he shouldn’t be pushed.

Once Eliot had distributed the pizza, he set the pan on top of the stove and quickly stacked a plate full of six slices. “Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Trashcan’s under the sink and you can put the plates in the sink when you’re done, or if you’re feeling ambitious, the dishwasher.” He exited the kitchen and headed towards the back of the house, presumably to meet with his partners.

That left Raleigh, Mako, Chuck, and Herc alone for the first time since leaving Hong Kong. 

“Marshal, do you believe what he said about the Council?” Mako asked worriedly.

“I don’t think it’s the entire Council,” Herc replied. “But given who advocated the Wall and who was the first to sign the orders for closure, I’d be willing to bet it was at least two people on the Council, maybe three. My bet is on Representatives Lance Taylor and Liam Cole. They were advocates of that damn Wall of Life.” Herc studied her, aware that she’d functioned as her adoptive father’s unofficial right-hand for the previous year even as she oversaw the restoration of Gipsy Danger. “And I’ve no reason to believe that we weren’t in danger, or aren’t still.”

Mako closed her eyes briefly. “Eliot, Hardison, and Parker – you’ve never met them before.”

Chuck looked startled at that. “What?” he started to say, then winced and visibly decided against speaking.

“No, but if someone is yelling fire, do you stand there and wait for proof of the fire? If they were working for the Council against us, I doubt we’d be in such classy accommodations.” Herc countered. He could feel his son trying to work out what was going on, and looked at him warningly. “And Chuck, Parker, Eliot, and Hardison worked together to get us out of Hong Kong before the Chinese could trap us into staying.”

Raleigh grinned. “When Eliot showed up and said we had to start packing to leave, I thought he was pulling a prank. Except the person who’d be likely to pull that kind of prank is Tendo, and he was standing right there, looking just as dumbstruck as the rest of us.” Raleigh paused. “He never could fake that look well.”

Herc half-laughed. “No,” he agreed. “Council’s style would be to hire thugs, make sure we just disappeared,” Herc went on. “And make sure that we couldn’t trace their hands in the whole affair, never mind know why or who was behind us being kidnapped. The Chinese showing up to have us take a tour of the harbor, or over closer to the Breach, would have been nothing more than a distraction.”

Mako looked at Herc, alarmed at the calm assessment. “You sound as if you’ve been expecting this.”

“Stacker and I had it as a contingency. We knew the UN would retaliate at some point, especially after Mutavore smashed the Wall of Life in Sydney and Chuck and I proved just how useful a jaeger still was.” Herc shrugged resignedly. “Since we’ve been focused on cleaning up and shutting down, I honestly didn’t think it was a real plausibility.” 

“After all we’ve done,” Mako said indignantly, “surely they’d be more grateful.”

“Oh, I’m sure they are,” Herc replied, taking a bite of his pizza, “but they’re not looking at it the way most people do. Suits and ties like them never have and never will.” More reassuringly, Herc added, “We’ll deal with them tomorrow. Tonight, our job is to just relax.”

Parker appeared, startling all of them. She looked at them in a way that made Herc think she had expected to know she was coming. “You’ll want to watch this,” she said, and clicked on the large-screen TV hanging from the wall.

“— the entire senior staff of the PPDC is missing tonight from Hong Kong,” the newscaster for an international news channel said grimly. “Hong Kong officials are claiming the group is overdue from returning from a sightseeing trip. However, an email from a known extremist kaiju cult, claiming that the group has been kidnapped, was published to social media as well as sent to the Pan Pacific News Network. This email has not been officially confirmed to be from the group known as KZ Omega. This is a breaking news story and we will keep you informed of any updates.”

Chuck looked immediately at Parker. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“Parker,” she said, in a tone that indicated he should’ve known this already.

“Behave,” Hardison chided her as he entered the kitchen, his laptop under one arm and the now-empty plate in his hand. “Ranger Hansen, I’m Alec Hardison. Call me Hardison; no one but my nana calls me Alec. Eliot suggested that if you’re finished eating, you might consider drinking more water.”

Chuck looked down at his plate as if surprised he’d eaten. “You’re not my boss.”

“No, but right now, I’m one of the three people making sure you stay alive,” Hardison said evenly. “And I’m also the guy who got a doctor – a real one, not the Chinese plant who, like, drugged you past all reason – to come to see you tonight.”

Chuck pressed hard on the ghost Drift, silently asking Herc if this guy was real. Herc sent assurance back, feeling the edge of his son’s fatigue and illness. 

Feeling the need to take control of the situation as much as he could, Herc spoke up. “Anything else we should know?”

“Long as you don’t decide to go for a long walk around the neighborhood, we should be all right,” Hardison said, opening the fridge to pull out a 2-liter bottle of orange soda. He took a swig, clearly at home, and just as clearly marking the bottle as his. “Please don’t damage anything – this isn’t our house; we’re just borrowing it. Drs. Gottleib and Geiszler have already been briefed; we stuck a Post-It on Mr. Choi, so hopefully he’ll see it. Doc’ll be here in twenty minutes. If you get bored, there’s a game system in the den and full cable TV. Oh, and the exercise room is just past the laundry room.”

“Appreciate you doing this,” Herc said.

Hardison smiled. “Just you wait,” he said. “This is just the opening act.”

Raleigh looked worried at that pronouncement, but said nothing. Newt showed up then, looking as though he’d been hoping to just sneak a slice, but Parker rolled her eyes.

“You’re not a thief,” she told him firmly, and handed him a plate.


	5. Doctor's Visit

The doctor turned out to be none other than the same physician who’d been the chief of medicine for the Sydney Shatterdome. Jayden Goldsbrough was a no-nonsense, decorated military veteran of Aboriginal and African descent who had served as the chief of emergency medicine for one of the city’s hospitals before the Kaiju War. He’d served his entire PPDC career at the Sydney Shatterdome, and had been devastated by the decision to abandon the base. He’d won the Hansens’ respect by being extremely competent, and he’d been the one to assess Scott’s condition as extreme battle stress. Herc was relieved it was someone they knew and trusted, and he wondered if Eliot had purposely chosen Jayden for that reason.

Jayden was led into the house, blindfolded, and protesting. “This is highly irregular,” he said. “I do not do house calls.”

“Your bag makes you a liar, and you’ll make this exception,” Eliot said firmly, guiding him to the living room, where the Hansens, Raleigh, and Mako had moved after finishing dinner. The TV was on, and the news channel was covering the now-declared kidnapping of the senior PPDC staff.

Eliot pulled off the blindfold and Herc watched Jayden’s jaw drop. True to his nature, Jayden recovered quickly. “For people who are supposed to be in a plane somewhere over the ocean, you look pretty healthy,” he noted, directing his comment to Herc.

“Not all of us,” Herc said. “Chuck’s been purposely drugged to keep him a coma the last six weeks. Can you check him out?”

“Of course.” Eliot had brought with him as he entered a doctor’s bag; from the looks of it, it looked like Jayden’s personal one. Briskly, Jayden started checking out Chuck. “This would go better if you went to a hospital.”

“No hospitals,” Eliot said firmly. “People want them dead. Hospital would be the perfect opportunity, and from the looks of things, they’ve already been trying with Ranger Hansen.”

Jayden side-eyed Eliot. “So you aren’t the kidnappers.”

“Nah, we’re the good guys,” Eliot said, grinning. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Do you know what Chuck was given?” Jayden asked.

In reply, Eliot passed over a PPDC-issue tablet, already open to Chuck’s medical record. Jayden scanned it and swore viciously. “Sorry, Chuck, but you’re going to have a vicious hangover and withdrawal from this. Next few days are going to be rough. You’ll be nauseous, have chills, periods of irritability, palpitations, difficulty breathing. I can prescribe you an anti-nausea medication, but it’ll make you sleepy, and I’d want you on a heart monitor.” He looked over at Eliot. “Will they need to be evacuated elsewhere in the next twenty-four hours?”

“Not if I can help it,” Eliot said. “No prescriptions unless absolutely necessary, Doc.”

Jayden’s mouth tightened. “Then what do you have on hand?”

“Saltines and ginger ale and a well-stocked medicine cabinet full of over-the-counter remedies, unless Parker managed to get more stuff she hasn’t told me about. Also have a home blood pressure monitoring machine, but nothing fancy. If you need more than that, Parker can get it for you, but we can’t let you write a script for a man who isn’t technically here yet.”

“Right,” Jayden said crisply. “I don’t suppose you have a plaster saw by any chance and some Ace bandages? I want to take a look at Chuck’s arm and leg.”

“Actually, yes.” Eliot went to go retrieve both items.

Jayden slanted a look at Herc. “They’re more well-equipped than I thought.”

“Oh, they’ve been full of surprises,” Herc agreed. He wasn’t surprised that Eliot had stolen a PPDC laptop and managed to connect it to the secured database, given what the trio had shown they could accomplish so far. “I’m just glad they’re using it to help us.”

A short time later, Chuck’s arm and leg were out of their casts, examined and pronounced to be healing very nicely, and rewrapped in the more flexible bandages. “Start putting weight on that leg slowly,” Jayden advised. “You’re going to need physical therapy, but this at least means you can shower with assistance. It looks like whomever was tending you made sure your elbow was functional, so you’re good there. Biggest worry I have is how you’re going to be getting through the drug withdrawal. Be better if you had an IV to help you replenish fluids.”

“I’ll be okay,” Chuck insisted, but he was already pale and sweating.

“No need to prove anything, Chuck,” Raleigh said softly. “I went through this shit, too, before I got sick of feeling disconnected and not sure of which way was up.”

“I’m not –” Chuck started to protest, only to fall silent as he swallowed hard. _Not you_ hung heavy in the room, unspoken but still heard by all four surviving jaeger pilots. Chuck couldn’t say he wasn’t like Raleigh, not anymore. “Fine,” Chuck said abruptly. 

Jayden patted his uninjured thigh reassuringly. “You’ll get through this, Chuck; it’s just not going to be pretty. Herc, you’ll get more bleed-through of his pain in the ghost Drift, so both of you are not going to have a restful night.” The doctor then turned to Eliot. “Please don’t suggest that my work here is done tonight. If all you have is what you say, then this is going to be a two-person job to make sure Chuck doesn’t have a dangerous heartbeat or any other ill side effects.”

“Parker,” Eliot said, and the blonde stepped up gracefully. “Get Dr. Goldsbrough the medical stuff.”

Parker nodded. She reappeared a few minutes later carrying a small duffel bag and presented it to Jayden. Jayden rummaged through it, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “Where did you get all of these drugs and supplies?”

“I’m a thief,” Parker said, as if that was an obvious fact. “Eliot said we might need the kitchen sink in terms of medicine, so I got what I could. Is it not enough?” 

“Lady, this is more than OTC,” Jayden said. “Did you steal the entire contents of the PPDC medicine cabinet?”

“It was there,” Parker said with a shrug. 

For a moment, it looked as though Jayden wanted very much to argue the legalities of her work, but then he found the drug he wanted. “Got two choices, Chuck. I can give you this, but it’s the one that makes you break out in hives, or we can try just regular painkillers, focus on the headache, then tackle the nausea with ginger ale and saltines.”

“I’ll take my chances with regular painkillers, ginger ale, and saltines,” Chuck told him, grimacing. “I just want my head to stop hurting.”

The next few minutes were consumed with making sure Chuck was comfortable. Over Chuck’s protests, Jayden insisted that Chuck move to the bedroom, away from the living room, saying that it would help if he didn’t have too much stimuli. It was very early in the morning by the time Herc drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the effort to help his son through the withdrawal symptoms. 

Herc rose around mid-morning to the smell of coffee; Chuck was still sleeping. From the ghost Drift, Herc could tell it was a deep sleep, so he didn’t tug too hard on it. Herc showered and changed, noting as he did so that, judging by the used towels hanging from the towel bars, it looked like both Raleigh and Mako were up. He found them in the living room animatedly discussing Japanese anime with Hardison; Max was happily seated next to Mako. 

“Just the man we were hoping to see,” Raleigh greeted. “Dr. Goldsbrough has been waiting for you. He asked Parker if it would be okay if he stayed the night, just to be sure that Chuck didn’t have any issues. He asked if he could check your blood pressure before you had coffee. He’s in the kitchen with Tendo now.”

Herc grumbled, but since he was headed to the kitchen anyway, he went. “Back off the coffee, Mr. Choi,” Jayden was advising. “You don’t need that much caffeine. Maybe during the war, but not now.”

Tendo made a face at that. “I’ll consider it. Ah, next patient! Morning, Marshal.”

“Drop the title, Tendo; we’re not in the Shatterdome.” Herc took a seat at the kitchen table, where Jayden had clearly set up shop. Tendo took the opportunity to pour himself a large mug of coffee and escaped the kitchen. “Where are Eliot and Parker?”

“I didn’t ask,” Jayden replied. “I figured I didn’t need to know. My guess – given the way they’ve been acting this morning – is that they’re moving on to whatever’s next in their plans.” Jayden met Herc’s eyes. “Whoever they are, they’re not inclined to waste time. Parker’s the one in charge. She told me that if you’re all okay, and if I think Chuck will be fine, that they’ll take me back home this afternoon.”

“You should go,” Herc told him. “No reason to stay. Eliot was playing nurse on the plane; I’ve seen worse field medics.”

“You know I’ll just spend the weekend worrying about you.”

“My son’s alive and so are my people,” Herc said firmly. Whatever happened next, he wanted to make sure that Jayden wasn’t at further risk. Something told Herc he needed to keep the physician out of what was coming, for plausible deniability if nothing else. “The rest – we’ve all lived through worse. You know Chuck tends to heal fast.”

Jayden compressed his lips and proceeded to do a basic checkup on Herc, ending with, “Well, I’ve seen you in worse shape. Couple more hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt.”

“How’s Chuck?”

“He’s going to need a few more days,” Jayden said. “But he’s in better shape than I thought he’d be, given what he was given.”

“You know us,” Herc said quietly. “We don’t break easily.” He paused. “Heard you stayed the night.”

“Didn’t want you to think I’d abandoned you,” Jayden said briskly. “I’m off this weekend anyway.”

“You don’t have to stay,” Herc replied. “Like I said, no need for you to now that Chuck’s through the worst of it.”

Jayden half-laughed. “You didn’t hear Eliot’s recruiting speech. Said if I were a man who believed in doing the right thing for the right people, I’d forget about any plans I had for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. If I wasn’t, then he’d think the medals I had framed were just worthless decorations.”

“Fighting words,” Herc remarked. As a rule, Australia didn’t award military honors often, and Jayden was one of the few to have received such acclaim.

“That man knows what’ll get a man to fight,” Jayden noted dryly as he put his stethoscope away. “Eliot’s offered me the use of an air mattress in the den. Now that Tendo is awake, I’m going to take him up on that offer. Then we’ll see how your son is, and go from there.”

“You’ve been awake all night?”

“Wanted to be sure Chuck didn’t have a heart attack on my watch,” Jayden said simply and patted Herc’s shoulder. “Wake me if someone needs my services.”

Jayden exited the room, leaving Herc alone to get coffee and help himself to the jumbo jar of what appeared to be some kind of high-protein granola mix. He tasted it without milk first and realized it might be better with, so he got a bowl and the carton of milk and served himself.

Eliot stepped into the kitchen as Herc was halfway through the surprisingly tasty mix. “Your son’s awake. I sent Raleigh to help him.”

“That’s not going to go over well,” Herc said and started to stand. “I’ll get Jayden –”

“Sit,” Eliot directed. “Nothing the doctor can do, and it’ll be better if Chuck knows Raleigh will help him. Be easier, long-term. You’ll burn yourself out if you don’t let other people step in, and you and your son are two of a kind.”

“Which is?” Herc asked warily.

“Stubborn, proud, and hyperfocused on the moment,” Eliot said. “Good in a one-on-one fight, but not so good for how you’re both going to cope with what happens when it’s just the two of you. Sorry, Marshal, but that’s the kind of planning that got you in the situation you’re in.”

“And you think you could do better?”

“Me?” Eliot smiled briefly. “I leave the planning to Parker. She’s the one who likes breaking open puzzles and locked doors. I just know what I have to do to make sure my people don’t get hurt. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I left you exposed.”

Herc studied Eliot. “No, you wouldn’t. You were American Special Forces, weren’t you?”

“Not that it matters,” Eliot said flatly.

Herc shook his head. “No, but it tells me you’re looking at the angles and calculating the shots, the way I should’ve been the last few weeks.”

“Just because you’re the man in charge doesn’t mean you know what else is going on,” Eliot countered gently. “Seen it many times. We were looking at something else when we were contacted about this plot. Hardison’s the one who put it together. Then again, he’s got web crawlers and data analytic programs looking for things like this; he’s our hacker.”

Herc considered. _A thief, a hitter, and a hacker walk into a bar_ flitted through his head and he bit back the half-hysterical laugh. “And what is this worth to you?”

“I hate bullies,” Eliot said. “And bullies who think that removing guys like you is all in a day’s work piss me off. If it weren’t for you and all those people in the living room, we’d be up shit’s creek without a paddle. Worse, the UN would be rationing the paddles, and that…” Eliot smiled viciously. “Makes me angry, and when I get angry, I hit things.”

Herc studied him. He could see that Eliot was furious, but the fury was channeled, as if knowing that they were working on a plan was helping keep a lid on it. “So who are we up against, specifically? My gut says it’s Representative Lance Taylor and maybe that bastard Liam Cole. Both of them hated Stacker, especially since he was right so much.”

Eliot shook his head. “You’re only half right. Come on, we’ll take this to the living room; the others will need to hear this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really appreciate the feedback and if you want to speculate what comes next, please leave me a comment. 
> 
> Also to answer a question - the people still left at the Shatterdome are, in my head, a skeleton crew and not likely to be in any harm at this juncture.


	6. Defend and Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait, but I've had a really great day (sword fighting lessons with Adrian Paul!) so you get a chapter early. :-)

“Good morning and welcome to International News Now. I’m Bailey Sawtell. Our top story this morning is the continuing coverage of the kidnapping of the senior Pan Pacific Defense Corps staff, including Marshal Hercules Hansen and his son Ranger Chuck Hansen and their beloved mascot, Max; Ranger Raleigh Becket and his copilot, Ranger Mako Mori; Chief LOCCENT Officer Tendo Choi, and the two K-Science scientists, Dr. Hermann Gottleib and Dr. Newton Geiszler. All were declared missing by Hong Kong authorities yesterday afternoon when they failed to return from an aerial tour. An email, sent to the Associated Press, from a group known to be associated with the radical kaiju cult KZ Omega claims responsibility for kidnapping the PPDC staff. A Chinese government official who wished to remain anonymous stated that they have found the plane’s last known location and are triangulating the search from there.”

Herc watched the broadcast and looked over at Hardison and then Parker in turn; Eliot had left to take Jayden back home. “You sure this is going to work?” he asked as he turned off the TV.

“Knowledge is power,” Hardison drawled. “And right now, we’ve deviated from the script they gave us, so they’ll be looking for their little lost sheep.” He punched in a number on a cell phone, letting it dial on speaker.

“This is Lance Taylor. Who is this?” a gruff American voice demanded.

Hardison spoke, his voice nothing like his usual as he adopted an accent – South African, Herc thought. Even his posture shifted slightly. “Damascus.”

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for your call!” 

“I’ve been busy negotiating,” Hardison drawled. “See, I checked my accounts this morning, and my deposit is mysteriously missing. Now, we had a deal. I pick up the cargo and you pay me.”

“No, no, the deal was not with you,” Lance argued. “My deal was with Xena, not you.”

“You haven’t paid me either,” Parker noted, her voice sounding more Australian than American. “And that makes me very unhappy in my special unhappy place, Mr. Taylor.”

“You haven’t delivered like you promised,” Lance blustered. 

“Because you didn’t mention the cargo you asked us to pick up were very special people.”

“So they saved the world, so what? We needed population control and the kaiju were doing a fine job. Look, if you need more money, you’re not going to get it unless you prove they’re at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of that useless trash. Don’t call me again unless you have that.” Lance hung up.

Herc started to say something, only to stop when he saw Hardison motion for silence. Hardison hung up the phone, pressed a few keys on his keyboard, and then nodded. “Now you can speak.”

“That fucking asshole,” Herc burst out, furious, as the rest of the group in the room made similar comments. 

“Oh, just wait. See, Lance has stock in a number of steel firms, so once this gets out – and I give it oh, about twenty more seconds – he’ll be scrambling to save face.” Hardison smiled wolfishly. 

“How can you be so confident?” Mako asked.

“Because I followed the money,” Hardison said. “And if there’s one thing guys like Lance Taylor spend more time obsessing over, it’s money – and the power it brings.”

“But why?” Newt spoke up. “Why do you care? I mean, you’d have to be practically obsessed with looking at that kind of information, seeing what strings to pull, who’s tied to what and whom – not that I’ve ever considered that route, trying to figure out who could get me kaiju specimens to study – but –”

Hardison smiled; Parker lounged against him in a way that said very clearly that they were comfortable with each other. “Someone has to be the white knight against the black king,” Hardison said quietly. “The three of us spent a lot of time on the black king’s side, never seeing the entire board, never seeing how we could be better if we turned the board completely upside down, changed the rules of the game.”

Newt’s eyes widened and Herc drew in a breath, stunned. 

“You’re telling me that you were really hired by Lance Taylor,” Herc interjected.

“Guy trusted that his call wouldn’t be traced, what can I say?”

From his position on the couch, Raleigh spoke. “So what now?”

“Now,” Hardison said, “we wait.”

“For what?” Newt demanded. “And can we leave?”

“Not if you want the plan to fall completely apart,” Hardison shot back, irritated. “I’m only trying to make sure you hold the patents to the medicine that people might want to create based on the science of the kaiju. Among other things.”

Newt blinked. “What? You can do that?”

Hardison slanted a look at him. “Are you or are you not in possession of way too many degrees for one person of your age?”

“Well, one maybe, but –” Newt stared at him. “You’re hacking. That’s how you can follow the money. That’s how you’re going to make sure we hold the things Taylor and his pals can make money on.”

Hardison nodded.

“But why?” Chuck spoke up for the first time. “I don’t see the point. We won. What the fuck do we care about holding that shit?”

“Because odds are, the next time we talk about jaegers, it won’t be against kaiju,” Mako surmised, looking stressed at the notion. “Do you know how many times I was asked if the Jaeger Restoration Project was to make the jaegers available for future military use?” She sounded horrified.

“You never said,” Chuck said accusingly.

“You would’ve just made my life difficult,” Mako countered. “You would’ve said something to the media about it, and I didn’t need anyone looking over my shoulder anymore than they were already.”

“Might’ve made them think twice,” Chuck muttered. “That’s what you’re trying to do, isn’t it?”

“More than that,” Parker replied. “Did you saying what you think make them stop pulling funding from the Jaeger Program?”

Chuck made a face at that. “No,” he muttered, annoyed.

“If we have control of the things associated with the Drift, we can make sure it stays clean and safe, along with everything else associated with the Jaeger Program,” Tendo said into the silence that fell. He looked at Parker. “That’s why we need a billionaire like Luke Meredith. You’re making sure we have funding for the future, and control of what happens next, so we aren’t subject to the strings we were operating under for the last year.”

She nodded. “I don’t like the kaiju, and if they come back, this way, you don’t have to beg bastards like Taylor for funding. You’ll be set.”

Chuck looked at his father. “So this is the new war.”

“Looks like,” Herc agreed. He turned to Parker. “Anything you want us to do?”

“Not until Eliot comes back,” she said easily.

“What are we waiting for?” Hermann asked.

In reply, Parker turned the TV back on.

“In breaking news, UN Representative Lance Taylor is under scrutiny after a recording of his negotiations with the alleged kidnappers was released,” the news correspondent said.

Herc looked at Hardison. “That’s not the only thing you were doing, was it?”

Hardison smiled craftily.

“And in other news, stock markets around the world are reacting to the news that the company largely responsible for supplying steel to the Wall of Life project is now under investigation for alleged corruption,” the news correspondent said a few minutes later. “Interpol has announced that key evidence has been presented that shows several government officials received kickbacks in exchange for allowing the Wall to be built.”

Raleigh whistled softly. “How the hell did you figure that out?”

Hardison waved a hand. “We’ve been looking at this for most of the War, on and off,” he admitted. “Just took us a while to see that we needed to look at the whole damn board, not just the piece we had. Once we had that in sight, then we could see that eliminating you was the end goal. Dead men can’t rewrite the story the way they want it told.”

“Well, fuck them,” Chuck said emphatically. 

Herc hid a grin at that. “So when do we get to say that we’re not kidnapped?” he asked Parker.

“After Eliot gets back.”


	7. Next, the World

Herc was grateful that Chuck had elected to take Mako up on her offer to play chess using the board she’d discovered in the den. It had been almost two hours since the recording of Lance Taylor’s conversation had been leaked. Herc had grown weary of the talking heads on TV dissecting what it all meant, even as he’d thought viciously that such defamation was the most peaceful assassination the man could endure. Calls for Taylor’s arrest were loud, and Herc was certain – though he couldn’t prove it – that Hardison had provided the proper authorities with enough evidence to hang the man. Chuck had been mouthing deprecations and rude suggestions at the TV commentary, to the point that Raleigh had chosen to retreat rather than, Herc suspected, get as worked up about it as Chuck was. Herc could’ve told Raleigh that Chuck’s preferred coping method when he couldn’t fight against someone was a lot of angry talk that was more hot air than intent, but even Herc grew tired of hearing his son. He’d tried to get Chuck to calm down, certain that it couldn’t be good for his blood pressure, but Chuck had told him where to stick that particular suggestion. Mako’s offer to play chess had been the first break Herc had been able to get Chuck to take.

The others had retreated to the den, but Herc had remained in the living room, fascinated by the dynamic he was seeing between Parker and Hardison. Hardison was still typing furiously, pausing only to sip orange soda, every so often crowing victoriously, but he’d moved to the dining table, which delineated the space between the living room and the kitchen. Parker was busy setting up a professional video camera, checking the angles so that the dining room’s blank wall could be used. Even so, Herc could tell that they were a couple; it showed in the way Parker made sure the orange soda supply kept coming while making sure the pile of empty bottles didn’t spill over into the space she’d made for the video recording. Herc thought he was looking at two parts to a deep-rooted triad, both professional and romantic, and felt awe at the power of that focused on helping him and the others. 

Herc tensed as he heard the front door open, but then he glanced over at Parker and Hardison. Hardison just said, “It’s cool,” and returned to what he was doing. Parker nodded acknowledgement and kept twitching the exact position of the two benches from the dining table set; it looked as though she was trying to get them to be lined up precisely.

“Look, I don’t know who the fuck you are, but this better be worth it.”

Herc looked in the direction of the sound of his brother’s voice as Scott was led into the living room. Like Jayden, he’d been blindfolded. Rising to his feet, Herc stepped forward; aware that whatever ghost Drift he’d once shared with his brother had been overlaid by the years he’d spent Drifting with his son. For a moment, he wished he had that sense of what his brother was feeling, but he knew he was being foolish. Scott had earned that privacy the hard way; sharing a Drift had only served to reveal Scott’s deep-rooted insecurity, gentle nature, and disastrously, crippling anxiety over having to kill, even if the target was kaiju.

Eliot grinned as he saw Herc move forward. “Oh, you’ll appreciate this,” Eliot told Scott, moving him so that he faced Herc, then removed the blindfold.

For a moment, Scott stared at his brother, too stunned to speak. “Well fuck,” Scott said. “For a man who’s supposed to be kidnapped and in danger of death, you’re looking like a right bastard.”

“That’s our mother you’re disparaging,” Herc noted dryly, reassured by Scott’s remark more than he knew he should be. Scott looked good, he thought, free of shadows and fear, and while not as muscled as he had been when he had been with the PPDC, he still looked fit. He had grown a mustache, and his auburn hair was longer than Herc remembered, but he still dressed as if he had stepped off the pages of some men’s fashion website.

“Doesn’t change a damn thing, and you know it,” Scott retorted and then hugged Herc. “Damn it, you scared me. Where’s Chuck?”

“Playing chess with Mako in the den, last I looked,” Herc replied. “Everyone’s safe.”

“You’re not bullshitting me just because you know I worry?”

Herc met his gaze. “No,” he said evenly, aware there had been a time he would have.

Scott shot him a look. “You’re the marshal now.”

Herc acknowledged that with a nod. “Yes, but in this case, I can’t lie about this. Chuck or any of the others could step out any minute and make me a liar if I tried.”

Reassured, Scott turned to Eliot. “And who the fuck are you?”

“Eliot Spencer,” Eliot said. “My team got everyone out of Hong Kong.”

Scott’s eyes narrowed. “What do you need me for, then? Shouldn’t it just be as simple as my brother here calling a news station and saying, ‘Look, we’re here?’”

“And it will be,” Eliot returned evenly, “but I figured you’d want to know first. If you saw this on TV, you’d wonder why your brother was prevented from telling you in person. Plus, this way you can do what you do best - be the anchor for your family.”

Shocked, Scott stared at him for a long moment. “You seem to know me pretty well,” he managed.

Eliot spread his hands open. “It’s my business to know such things. And no, I’m not with the Australian Special Forces, or anyone you think you can name.”

Scott swallowed hard and got out, “Appreciate you coming to get me. Which way is the den?”

Herc stood. “Let me take you there,” he said hastily. He saw Raleigh slip into the kitchen as he left the room, but didn’t think too much about it.

Raleigh waited until the Hansens had exited the room before he asked, “How much were we worth?”

Hardison started to speak, only to fall silent at a cutting look from Eliot.

“Man like you doesn’t need to know what the price on his head was, only that it existed,” Eliot told Raleigh gently. “If you knew the exact amount, you’d be offended it was that specific number.”

Raleigh half-laughed at that, acknowledging it with a nod. “The brass told us, back when we were going through training, that we were only worth half a jaeger without our copilots. I hated that. It made me feel like I was interchangeable, and I never wanted to have anyone in my head other than my brother until I met Mako.” Raleigh lifted his chin and looked at Eliot, pride and anger making him stand straighter. “I never liked Representative Taylor. He told me that he thought the good jaeger pilots died like proper heroes. Listening to him this morning only proved he hadn’t changed his mind.” Raleigh turned to Parker. “We weren’t just waiting for Scott, were we?”

“No,” Hardison replied. “I needed time to finish submitting all of the paperwork for ownership. You, Mr. Becket, now own all of the jaegers in Oblivion Bay.”

Raleigh stared at him. “You should give them to Mako,” he said jerkily. “I can’t pilot anymore; too much brain damage.”

“If the kaiju attacked tomorrow –”

“We’d be fucked,” Raleigh said heavily, “because in my nightmares, they have incorporated my jaeger into the next generation of kaiju. Leave my name out of owning the machines. Herc and the rest can have it all.”

Hardison exchanged glances with Parker and Eliot and hastily made some corrections. “Sorry,” he said. “Nothing?”

“I never did it for the money,” Raleigh told him. “Or the fame. I just wanted to follow my brother into a fight. Fame was nice, keeping score was awesome, setting records felt like we were making a difference, but…” He took a deep breath and shook his head at his younger self. “Long as I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and meds to help with the migraines I have now, I’ll be all right.”

Mako moved into the room, looking faintly worried, and rubbed Raleigh’s left arm reassuringly. He smiled down at her. “And the means to make sure Mako doesn’t worry too much about me.”

“I can make that happen,” Hardison agreed readily. He typed a few commands into the program he was running, and turned to Parker. “We ready?”

“Get the others,” Parker told Raleigh and Mako. “We’ll do this once. Don’t want to look too rehearsed.”


	8. The Announcement

The group spent the better part of an hour going over the plan. Herc would make a statement, which Parker would record and it would be then be broadcast. All that could be transferred into what Hardison had called PPDC Holdings, LLC, had been, so that while certain individuals had claim to specific items, the company as a whole was set up as an independent limited liability corporation, with ownership of everything that made a jaeger operational and the scientific development of kaiju science. Herc was now president of the corporation; the other staff members were now listed as vice presidents. Funding courtesy of Luke Meredith had been pooled with the PPDC’s remaining assets and would ensure that the next five years would not be spent broke and asking for money. The company would focus on monitoring the Breach, underwater research, and building a jaeger just in case. Future money would be earned by contracting to do underwater research and possibly search and rescue.

The new company had office space in one of the city’s downtown office towers. “We haven’t had the time to verify that the Sydney Shatterdome is livable,” Hardison said apologetically. “According to the city building inspector, it’s still deemed inhabitable, and I’m not hacking that. I mean, I could convince you that I’m a building inspector, but you don’t need that. You’re going to need somewhere to operate, and trust me, you don’t want this to look like you’ve been running it in your underwear, not that I’m knocking that, because I’ve – ” Eliot glared at him and Hardison finished, “– done it many times. But you’re classier than that.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Herc interjected. Hardison was clearly running on sugar and adrenaline, but Herc was equally sure that Eliot would take care of the hacker when he crashed. He’d seen enough to figure out that the relationship between the triad was rock solid; they would and did take care of each other. “Anything else we should know?”

Hardison looked at Parker. “Anything I’m missing?”

“Yeah,” Chuck said. “What happens to the doctor who tried to kill me?”

“We’ll take of him,” Eliot assured him. 

“How?” Chuck demanded.

“Better if none of us know,” Herc cut in, shooting his son a warning look. “You were saying, Eliot?”

“For now, we’re focused on establishing your futures. If this runs the way we plan, the Australian government will offer you sanctuary. The prime minister is clean – she just got her hands tied by the treaty with the UN.”

“We know,” Herc said. “Tendo, can you think anything they might’ve missed?”

“We’re still independent, have control over what we do next, and unless we fuck it up royally, can hire staff we trust to do the right thing,” Tendo summarized. “Oh, and we have no idea how we managed to get control. Must’ve been that EMP that rewrote everything and it’s taken us six weeks to figure out what was different, especially since we’ve cut staff and let most everyone go.”

Grinning, Hardison marked an invisible point in the air. “Oh, that reminds me.” He typed another set of commands. “Your passports are all the special PPDC variant, which was deactivated yesterday morning; I’ve reactivated them.”

“Why were they deactivated?” Newt asked. “I mean, we were ‘kidnapped.’” He made air quotes.

“So some criminal couldn’t assume your identities,” Eliot said. “Your passports allowed you to enter any Pacific Rim country with little or no immigration restrictions. Any other questions?”

“The kaiju specimens we left behind?” Newt asked.

“Working on it,” Hardison said. “You okay if we steal it and relocate it to your new offices?”

“Long as you follow kaiju contamination protocols, no,” Newt said. He glanced at Herc and added hastily, “I mean, as long as the marshal’s okay with it.”

“I’d rather negotiate the recovery of everything in that Shatterdome than risk dealing with Hannibal Chau or anyone else for those items,” Herc said. To Newt, he said, “Didn’t you say he threatened to kill you?”

“Well, yes, very terrifying, but once that peacocking was over, he was fine.”

“And didn’t you say that he wanted more money for exposing him to an uncontrolled baby kaiju?” Hermann asked, making Tendo mutter in disgust.

“Like anyone knew Otachi was pregnant,” Newt muttered, irritated. “Or that anyone could survive getting swallowed whole by a baby kaiju.”

With an impatient sigh, Herc looked at Hardison. “That means no, by the way. We’ll negotiate after this; I’m sure the Chinese authorities will want to save face and will give us anything we want.”

“All right. That’s what we figured, too.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Wasn’t looking forward to dealing with kaiju contamination protocols. Some things shouldn’t be stolen, is all I’m saying, and don’t give me that look, Parker; you know you have your limits, too. Any other questions?”

No one spoke. “All right then, let’s get this show started.”

“How sure are you that the media will pick up this video?” Scott asked Hardison quietly a few minutes later. He was impressed by what he’d heard and seen; if he had to handpick a team to help his brother, his nephew, and their friends, he wasn’t sure if he would have known to choose Hardison, Eliot, and Parker. Scott had only wanted to support his brother and protect his nephew; he hadn’t known doing so would reveal his worst anxieties and fears.

Hardison smiled. “You think they have any reason not to?” he countered.

“True. But if you don’t have a Plan B, please don’t enlighten me.” 

Hardison’s smile widened. “Understood. You know, I tried playing you in that jaeger vs. kaiju game the PPDC released.”

“Yeah? And?”

Hardison shook his head. “Just answer me this: how the hell did you cope with the vertigo from the first head drop?”

“Got used to it,” Scott admitted with a slight shrug. “Never liked it. But my brother needed me.”

Hardison glanced at Eliot and Parker before looking at Scott. “Never understood that feeling until I met those two. Some people, you’ll leap off tall buildings for and trust they’ve planned the landing.”

Scott laughed ruefully. “Yeah, until you crash and can’t recover.”

Hardison met his gaze. “Nothing wrong with saying you can’t play the game anymore. That’s why we left you out of this plan. Do you want in?”

Without hesitation, Scott replied, “No. It would raise less questions if I’m not a part of it, and from what you’ve set up, my brother will have his hands full. Just make sure you give me a list of people I can give to Herc when this gets too crazy – and it will.” He chuckled ruefully. “I can’t handle that kind of pressure, not like he and Chuck can.”

Hardison nodded, his face full of compassion. “Done.”

Scott took a seat just out of camera range as his brother took Parker’s cue to speak.

“This is Marshal Hercules Hansen,” he began. “As you can hopefully see, we are safe. We evacuated to Sydney when we became aware of the threat to kidnap and murder us. To our remaining staff in Hong Kong, please be assured that we are working on making sure that you remain safe and will be allowed to evacuate the Shatterdome. We have reason to believe that factions within the Chinese government joined forces with Representative Lance Taylor to ensure that we did not live to see the sunrise. In light of this, we will be relocating operations to a more secure location.”

As soon as Herc finished speaking, Parker turned off the video and switched on the living room TV, which was still tuned to the news channel. Immediately, the news anchors started reporting on the video, which they claimed had been posted directly to multiple media outlets.

“You were saying?” Hardison asked Scott, who whistled softly.

“Wasn’t expecting you to get it on air that fast,” Scott said in admiration.

“More importantly, where are we going from here?” Chuck asked.

“Sydney Shatterdome was for sale,” Hardison said. “I made sure you and your father and your uncle owned it. Only fair, since it’s got a half-built jaeger –”

“Domino Omega?” Mako asked, startled. “I was told it wasn’t functional.”

Eliot looked at her. “I don’t think that would stop you from making it work.”

Mako ducked her head slightly. “Not if it needed to be functional. So you think we should go there?”

“As soon as you make nice with the Australian police that are headed this way,” Parker said, checking a security camera. “Unless you don’t. We have potatoes you could throw at them.”

Everyone but Eliot and Hardison stared at her. “Or is it tomatoes?” she asked, looking bewildered.

“Rotten tomatoes, and no, we’re not going to, and not only because we don’t have any,” Hardison corrected her. “You’ve verified they are who they say they are?”

Eliot had moved over to the camera feed. “It’s a convoy. Center vehicle is the Australian PM’s.” He glanced at Herc. “Can’t verify anyone until they step out, but there aren’t that many cars that fit that specific configuration. You ready to speak to her?”

“No time like the present. If she or anyone asks about you –”

“We weren’t here,” Parker said firmly. “And we’d prefer to keep it that way.”

“So keep your trap shut about this,” Chuck warned Newt, who was seated next to him.

“Like I’d say anything,” Newt said indignantly.

“You would,” Hermann inserted flatly. “You told Chau what we were going to do.”

“Okay, so that was one time –”

“Don’t make them regret doing anything nice to you,” Raleigh cut in. “Because I’m sure they did on top of what they’ve mentioned already.”

Eliot looked at the American pilot and inclined his head in gratitude. “Like Parker said. We weren’t here. What happens next is in your hands, but we’ve given you the foundation.”

“Any chance I could hire you to look at our security?” Herc asked, thinking ahead. “Maybe you could recommend someone who could be our chief of security? It doesn’t feel like what you’ve done will be the last time someone attempts this crap.”

The trio exchanged looks. “We can do that,” Parker said. “Give us a few days; we’ll send you the resumes.”

The doorbell rang. All eyes turned to Herc, but Scott stepped up and answered the door. Sometime in the flurry of conversation with the Australian prime minister that ensued, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison slipped away. Herc wasn’t surprised; he’d expected nothing less, given what they’d said about wanting to be anonymous. Still, he wasn’t a man without resources – and he suspected Luke Middleton knew how to get in touch with the trio.


	9. Epilogue

“As a result of the attempted kidnapping and murder of the senior staff of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, several more people have been arrested. FBI agents have already arrested former UN Representative Lance Taylor, who now faces charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, and violation of several anti-corruption laws, among other charges. The local representative to the Hong Kong Shatterdome, the head physician, and several other key government officials in Hong Kong have been arrested by their government in connection to the attempted kidnapping and murder. Interpol has also raided the offices of British UN Representative Liam Cole, and have since arrested him as well for violating the terms of the UN’s Anticorruption Act, as he had undisclosed financial ties to several firms who stood to benefit from continued construction of the Wall of Life,” the news anchor said. “This scandal has rocked many in the international political community, and has had worldwide impact.

“In other news, the newly formed PPDC Holdings announced today that it will be working with a consortium of universities around the world to perform scientific monitoring and research on the Breach as well as study the impact on marine life since the Breach was closed four months ago.”

Herc turned off the TV, satisfied by what he’d heard and seen, though he’d been paying enough attention since the attempted kidnapping to know that such news was coming. He studiously ignored the sounds of some Japanese game show from the room nominally to be Mako’s. He knew his son thought he could downplay the growing friendship between him and Gipsy Danger’s pilots, but Herc wasn’t fooled.

After some debate, Raleigh, Mako, Herc, and Chuck decided to purchase the house they’d first been brought to, liking that it had enough room for the four of them but was big enough to serve as a second house for the rest of the staff. Tendo and the scientists had taken the government up on offers to help resettle them in condos not far from the office.

Herc was in the midst of interviewing candidates for the chief of security; tomorrow, he was to meet with their new head of human resources to decide who it would be. Herc had also contracted with Jayden to provide private physician services to the PPDC staff; he didn’t trust anyone else to keep their best interests in mind. Chuck had recovered fully from his injuries, but it had left him with a deep distrust of medical care from strangers. Herc couldn’t say he wasn’t equally mistrustful; he knew he’d be paying more attention to who took care of his son and his people.

The foundation Eliot, Parker, and Hardison had set up was solid. Herc knew he lacked the business sense to run a corporation, so he’d taken a crash course from Luke Meredith, who was now the company’s corporate consultant on how to deal with the things Herc had taken for granted the PPDC staff would handle without interruption. Herc had always thought of himself as a soldier first, a leader second; he’d been surprised to discover that someone as successful as Luke was thought he was being self-deprecating. Herc was still learning, along with everyone else, on what it meant to be the new PPDC – but he liked it so far, and the future looked bright.

Herc was just getting into bed when his cell phone buzzed with an incoming text from Leverage Consulting.

_You didn’t have to send us autographed, first-edition, scale model jaegers of Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka. Do you know how much these are worth now?_

Herc quickly typed, _Yes, I did, and yes, I do know. Consider it a thank you for everything, since there’s no way any of us can pay you back for what you did for us._

He got a photo in reply that showed the two jaegers in a place of honor against a Leverage Consulting, Inc. logo in a sleek corporate office. Satisfied by that and aware he would not get any further identification, Herc turned off his phone. Wherever the trio was and whatever they were doing, he hoped they were still one step ahead of whomever they were targeting. Somehow, he was certain of it.

That thought on his mind, Herc went to sleep.

_The End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Kudos, comments, discussion, and constructive criticism always welcome, even long after the original post date.


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